How Fast-Tracking DNA Testing Exonerated Man Accused of Rape, with Miguel Macias

Ajouté : 2026-05-13

[00:00:00]The meeting happens, the in-person meeting happens, you change your mind, he's grateful you're going to take the case, you walk out of there. What's the first thing you did? Did you pick up the phone and call the DA? Absolutely, that's where we are in the story, okay?

[00:00:13]>> vouch for that 100%.

[00:00:15]I couldn't wait to call her, okay? And I've already mentioned her publicly. Her name's Christina Cabrera, and and normally I wouldn't, but I'm going to tell you what she did. I started telling her, "Go, listen, I'm brand new to the case. I don't know anything, I don't have evidence, I don't have anything.

[00:00:31]But I've got some text messages which seemed to suggest he wasn't even at the party. And can you tell me whether the victim talked about tattoos? Cuz my guy's covered in tattoos. And and and and she cut me off." She goes, "Do you know what time it is?"

[00:00:42]I said, "No, why? Why is that wrong?"

[00:00:44]>> to let this guy out. Well, She right.

[00:00:46]She looked at me, she she didn't look at me. She told me on the phone, she goes, "It's almost 5:00. I don't work after 5:00. If you have anything you want to send to me over the next few weeks, you can send it to me and I'll look at it."

[00:00:56]Oh my god, Jonna. I thought I was spiritually fit. I mean, I've been meditating for years. I pride myself on being positively legal, okay?

[00:01:05]>> Uh-huh.

[00:01:06]>> That moment she pushed the buttons on me that launched some words that are reserved for the middle of the night when you stub your toe on a piece of furniture on the way to the bathroom.

[00:01:16]You understand? Those words that caused me to make amends to her only for the words that I used and not for the tone or for the disdain that I had for her dismissing what could be a potentially innocent client. So what I did was for two or days or so, while my client is languishing in jail, possibly innocent, I'm trying to call her, I'm emailing her, pleading with her to give me the attention that I needed. And and I wasted I wasted two days. I feel I actually still feel a little guilty that I wasted two days of my client's liberty trying to deal with her. I would never do that today. You take a deep breath, you say, "She's doing the best she can at her level of awareness. Who's your damn boss?" And that's exactly what I did.

[00:01:58]Right over her head. I went to her boss and I sat down with her boss and she couldn't be more kind and she looked at what I had. She goes, "Wow. Wow, you might have something here. Well, we'll know definitively," she said, "in months from now." I understood maybe 6 months when we get the DNA back. I went, "Wait, wait, wait, wait. There's DNA here?"

[00:02:17]The victim, they got DNA from? That's right, it's a rape case. So, they've got the perpetrator's DNA from inside the victim. Okay, let's let's do the DNA test now. That prosecutor, that supervisor, she goes, "No.

[00:02:31]He has to wait his turn.

[00:02:33]He has to wait his turn like everybody else." Wow.

[00:02:35]>> "No." She said, "Yes." I said, "Absolutely not." She said, "Yes." I wouldn't leave that office until she agreed to pull his test from the bottom and put it on the damn top. And we we came to this agreement. And we came to this agreement. It wasn't easy. She goes, "I'll do it if you don't tell your colleagues that I'm doing it. Don't tell any other defense lawyer cuz they're going to want the same treatment." And I said, "I won't tell anybody."

[00:03:03]>> Fair enough. Of course I told everybody.

[00:03:05]But I am not telling [laughter] anybody. Okay? And Miguel, okay, Miguel, I'm going to tell them what happened, but I want to know, you know, your perspective. We'll pick up the story with with when you heard something.

[00:03:17]First of all, did you know that that Did I ever share with you that she agreed to then fast-track your DNA?

[00:03:24]Did I ever tell you that? You didn't know that.

[00:03:27]No, I remember what you told me clearly.

[00:03:29]You told me, "If you're innocent, you will be outside that jailhouse in 48 hours."

[00:03:34]And on the 47th hour on the dot, I was outside that jailhouse.

[00:03:38]Damn. So, you were very accurate and you stuck to it 100%.

[00:03:43]>> Wow. Wow. Wow. Well, I didn't think it happened that quickly, but I I'll tell you this. We got you out, but it was on a presumptive test, meaning Yeah. that they did some kind of quick test and it showed it wasn't you, but the final test wasn't fully done yet, but it wasn't going to change.

[00:04:02]>> days? It took a month to do a presumptive? I I'm surprised they can't do that like >> No. No, they Jonna, they hadn't even started it until I came into the case and told this prosecutor, you need to pull him from the bottom to the top.

[00:04:18]Then they just like fast-tracked it.

[00:04:20]Like acted like his life mattered for the first time and that this was like a murder case and we need to know, you know, okay, let's go. And they they they did they prioritized it. Okay? I can't [clears throat] wait to hear all the apologies that you got Miguel on your way on your way out of jail. Well, let's let's Well, we did hold on. First of all, um did you know anything before you were released? Like did they just say, "All right, come with us, you're leaving?"

[00:04:46]Like what what did you hear? I don't know if I Again, just so people don't think I can't pick up the phone and call him, right? He has to call me or I have to go visit and I was busy working on his case, so I wasn't going to travel hours to the jail or whatever. I was hoping his family would convey that to him. Did you know that we had gotten the DNA and the results back before they let you out?

[00:05:08]>> Yes, I knew because I I every morning when I would wake up, I would call my mom.

[00:05:12]Good. And I figured you would. Yeah. And then she's the one that told me, "Oh, yeah, you're coming out today. Your lawyer got you you know, he's innocent everything."

[00:05:21]He come out innocent basically.

[00:05:23]>> Well, well, let me just say this. The first part was getting you out. That didn't mean the charges were going to be dropped. They agreed to let you out on bond based upon the results and then we went to court like right away, probably the next day or whatever, in front of Judge Block. Let's roll a clip from Judge Block. I love this judge. She's a wonderful human being and what he said publicly was extraordinary. Let's Let's listen to that.

[00:05:49]The judge had these words for Messias. I apologize for what happened for what happened to you, sir.

[00:05:56]Yeah, right? And if I remember correctly, he agreed to expunge your record right away, didn't he?

[00:06:04]Yes, he sealed the record.

[00:06:06]That has never happened, ever.

[00:06:09]You have to go to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, you have to go to them to the State Attorney's Office, and I tell all my clients, no matter how much they pay me, it will not happen unless you wait like a year. It literally takes a year. This judge fast-tracked it and just did it sua sponte right from the bench, right from, you know, right in front of open court.

[00:06:27]That was a beautiful thing. Jonna, I want to get your reaction. Mhm. Um and and I want to get your reaction to Miguel. I don't know if you ever saw what the chief prosecutor, like this isn't the one that I dealt with. This is Kathleen Hogue, who I do admire. She's still in the office now. Here's what she told the media about your case. Go ahead.

[00:06:47]Veteran prosecutor Kathleen Hogue told me testimony from one witness plus evidence were strong enough to charge and hold Messias for 42 days. But as soon as we found out, we did what we had to do, and we released him. This happens all the time. You know, okay, this is not the first time it's happened, and it won't be the last.

[00:07:07]Oh.

[00:07:08]>> [laughter] >> Woo.

[00:07:09]Okay, then. Yeah. So, hey.

[00:07:12]Not to drive a little too fast in Miami, I guess. You know, you never know when you're going to get picked up and thrown in the clink for 42 freaking days.

[00:07:21]Miguel, Miguel, what Have you ever seen her Have you ever seen that quote?

[00:07:25]>> Yeah, I saw it.

[00:07:26]>> What What do you What do you make of that? Again, I I I'm hesitant cuz I do like her. I'm I'm friendly with her.

[00:07:32]She's been great on cases.

[00:07:33]>> all the time. I just I couldn't believe that she said that to the media like that, and I know what she meant, meaning you're not the only innocent guy, but the matter of what she said it. How does How does that make you feel when you hear that?

[00:07:46]It makes me pretty mad.

[00:07:49]Yeah, because there's there's other ways you could have said it, you know.

[00:07:53]Okay. So So yeah, go ahead. I'm sorry I interrupted you.

[00:07:58]Go ahead. No, no, I'm just There's other ways it could have been said in a different way.

[00:08:02]She just said it like, oh, yeah, it it happened in the first place.

[00:08:05]>> that this happened. In our system of justice, innocent people shouldn't be sitting behind bars for 42 days. I'm very sorry. We'll do better. We'll make sure you do better.

[00:08:14]>> That would have been a nice way. That would have been a nice way to do it.

[00:08:17]>> All right. So So let's talk about why it is that you were arrested. What people don't know is that the victim she went to Facebook and found the guy who threw the party.

[00:08:33]Yes, Facebook. The Facebook.

[00:08:35]>> And this is I think before Instagram was big. And she went and she looked through the guy all of his friends, the guy who threw the party. She knew it was someone named Miguel, and she found someone named Miguel.

[00:08:47]And there it is. That's the guy. That's the guy.

[00:08:51]Now, let's show the folks who the DNA actually matched. Can we pull that up on the screen?

[00:09:00]Hang on.

[00:09:01]Take a look at that.

[00:09:04]Miguel Macias, who we've been speaking to, is the one in the dark shirt, my dear client, my sweet innocent client.

[00:09:11]Damn. I know. Damn.

[00:09:14]>> on the right is Miguel Bustos who was arrested shortly thereafter in 2015, pled in 2000, I think it was 22, in front of a a judge who I who I adore, um, and he got 10 years in prison and I think followed by lengthy probation.

[00:09:30]He's a registered sex offender, um, and I think he's still in prison now. But take a look at that, folks.

[00:09:37]I mean, I'll be the first one to say, Miguel, I don't know what you're thinking, but I mean, clearly that dude looks arguably like you. Would you at least concede that?

[00:09:50]>> Yes.

[00:09:51]All right, I didn't know. I didn't want to offend you or anything, okay? No, no, we do look alike.

[00:09:55]Yeah, so I don't blame the victim. I think the starting point is you're going, "Hey, I think it's this guy." I get it.

[00:10:03]But then what other evidence is there?

[00:10:06]You know? And their position is, "That's enough for us." And I say believability and accuracy are two different things.

[00:10:13]She can believe all she wants that it's Miguel Macias, but be completely inaccurate, as she was.